How Much Will Andy Burnham’s ‘No. 10 North’ Cost British Taxpayers?

Great Britain is facing a host of economic woes: high youth unemployment, stagnating wages (especially compared to American workers), and a rising deficit. So what is the new prime minister’s grand plan to end Britain’s economic malaise? A new government office.

In July, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the opening of “No. 10 North,” which is located at Heron House—a refurbished 1980s office block in Manchester, where Burnham served as mayor for almost a decade. The government press release called it “the government’s new situation room for growth,” while the prime minister described it as a way “to get power out of Westminster,” which is the center of political life in Britain.

Last week, in an interview with The Times, Burnham said that No. 10 North will take over responsibility for economic growth. “It is actually a huge transfer of power…having No 10 leading on that growth mission means you’ve got maximum power to unlock the blockages where they exist in the wider” governmental system.

The government’s big plan for economic growth is, for all intents and purposes, a new place to conduct meetings that would otherwise already be happening in London.

“What we’re bringing is a different type of energy,” Caroline Simpson, the office’s deputy chief of staff, told Politico. “That’s really the point about No. 10 North—to connect our places, connect devolution back into the heart of governing.”

Whatever that means, the move has already come at a cost to taxpayers. According to a letter from the Cabinet Office in response to a Freedom of Information request filed by Reason, simply setting up No. 10 North has cost taxpayers nearly 49,000 pounds, or more than $66,000.

This includes 10,527.20 pounds (more than $14,300) on “physically branding the office,” 1,768.43 pounds (about $2,400) on crockery, and 978.87 pounds (more than $1,300) on moving a replica Downing Street door to Manchester.

The government also spent 18,718.23 pounds (more than $25,500) on I.T. and communications infrastructure, 8,799 pounds (about $12,000) on “enabling works to the office space,” 6,082.38 pounds (around $8,300) on event equipment, lighting, and flag poles, and 954.16 pounds (more than $1,300) on transporting 24 meeting chairs.

Of course, these sums are a drop in the bucket compared to the 1.4 trillion pounds the British government expects to spend in FY 2025–2026. But it is also nowhere near the total amount of taxpayer money that will be spent on this P.R. stunt. The Cabinet Office did not disclose staff costs, ministerial travel, security expenditure, or ongoing operating costs in response to Reason’s request. But with the prime minister working from the office at least once a week, and his ministers also regularly traveling north, it won’t be cheap.

As The Times reported in July, security for the location costs “tens of millions” of pounds. The cheapest train ticket from London to Manchester can cost anywhere from $32 if purchased in advance to around $155 same-day. But sometimes, as small business owner Lewis Kemp discovered, a return ticket from Manchester to London can cost as much as $463.

Sam Lister, No. 10 North’s director general, has already been accused of “wasting taxpayer money,” reportedly spending 800 pounds (about $1,091) per week over his “200-mile weekly commute to Manchester” from London, according to LBC News.

“However much it costs, I don’t think the price of security should get in the way of a government wanting to spread the centre of power further across the country,” a Westminster source told The Times.

Taxpayers may never fully know the cost of operating the two offices for the prime minister. Nevertheless, No. 10 North does tell us something about how politicians in Britain think. Rather than addressing Britain’s biggest problems, Burnham is pushing costly schemes, such as greater public control of utilities, more government housing, and, now, another government office building, which simply adds to the enormity of the state and exacerbates the U.K.’s economic woes.

The new office does not change bad policy, but it does make for a good photo op.